Damon Albarn: ‘Gorillaz may quit playing huge gigs after current tour’

Damon Albarn has admitted that Gorillaz‘ current tour could be their last on such a large scale, saying he can’t “keep going at this size and pace” in future.

The band’s 2010 album ‘Plastic Beach’ features guest appearances from a plethora of musicians, including The Clash‘s Mick Jones and Paul Simonon, Lou Reed, Mark E Smith and Snoop Dogg, with many of the artists joining the group on tour this year.

Speaking to Theage.com, Albarn and his Gorillaz partner Jamie Hewlett both admitted that the grandiose nature of the shows has taken its toll.

“It’s been an unqualified success – bizarrely,” Albarn said. “But as far as communicating an idea to an audience, who knows? We always think that when we get to a point where we’ve achieved something that it’s time to stop.”

Albarn continued by saying that he and Hewlett will “see how we feel in January”, after the tour has finished, before deciding on their future. Hewlett said: “This would be a wonderful point to leave Gorillaz, at the end of this tour, I think.”

Hewlett went on to clarify his point. “That’s not a statement,” he said. “I’m just saying if that were the case… Gorillaz is more like a big sprawling gang of people you could do any number of projects with.”

Gorillaz‘ last scheduled tour date is set for Auckland on December 21.